Ms Claire Lynch, Occupational and Diversional Therapy Manager at Western NSW Local Health District will present on the topic of The Far West Mental Health Recovery Centre: A Collaborative Workforce Development Experience between Neami National and the Far West Mental Health Local Health District.

The Far West Mental Health Recovery Centre is a 10 bed sub-acute mental health facility in Broken Hill operated as a partnership between the Far West Local health District and Neami National. The service has been in operation since March 2013 and has enhanced the range of mental health services available to the community of Broken Hill and the Far West Region. The Mental Health Commission of NSW and the Australian Mental Health Commission have both identified the development of a mental health workforce in rural and remote areas as vital to improving equity in service delivery in these locations.

The experience of Neami National and the Far West Local Health District in developing the Recovery Centre has provided learnings in the area of workforce development in remote NSW in both the community managed and clinical sectors. This paper will focus on describing these learnings and provide recommendations for future investigations in the area of mental health workforce development in rural and remote Australia. Neami National has placed particular emphasis on the role of the Peer Support Worker and Aboriginal Mental Health Workers within this service model. The contribution of these roles and strategies to support and further develop the contribution of these workers in addressing the mental health needs of the local community will be discussed. The benefits in terms of workforce development in each partner organisation will also be highlighted.

The 2016 Rural and Remote Mental Health Symposium will be held at Mantra on Salt Beach, Kingscliff, NSW from 3 – 4 November 2016. This year’s symposium again provides opportunities to learn, discuss, workshop and network with others who share a passion for rural and remote mental health.

The 2016 Rural and Remote Mental Health Symposium Program is now available to view here: https://dev3.anzmh.asn.au/rrmh/program/16/program16.pdf

For more information on the upcoming Symposium and to secure your registration visit the symposium website.